It is well known in the art that organosilicon quaternary ammonium compounds possess bacteriostatic, fungistatic and algaestatic and/or bactericidal, fungicidal and algaecidal properties. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,560,385; 3,730,701; 3,794,736; 3,817,739; 3,865,728; and 4,005,025; and British Patent No. 1,386,876. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,701 discloses a variety of silyl quaternary ammonium compounds having a single long chain alkyl radical of from 11 to 22 carbon atoms. For example, one such compound, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl octadecyldimethyl ammonium chloride is a commercial antimicrobial product marketed by Dow Corning as "Bioguard Q 9-5700" (EPA No. 34292-1). U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,736 describes a number of other organosilicon amines and salts thereof exhibiting antimicrobial activity against a wide variety of organisms.
In accordance with this invention there are provided a number of silyl quaternary ammonium salts which have equal or greater antimicrobial activity than the previously known compounds.